Bodmin Manor
by Dr-Doctor1992
Summary: When Tai found an old, abandoned mansion; he convinced everyone to spend halloween there. One by one they get taken out. Will any one of them make it through the night at this house?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Halloween is approaching and I've been wanting to write a haunted house story for a while. It may take me a bit longer to get the next chapter of Summer Camp out because of this. Hope you'll enjoy it.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

It was an overcast thursday evening when cars were queuing up all over Tokyo. Two old, teenagers climbed over the railing that separates the highway from the woods. The woods aren't far from the University of Tokyo where Tai, Izzy and Joe have enrolled in. Tai and Izzy had finished all their mid-semester exams and thus, had the free time to do whatever they want. Namely, exploring. Apparently Tai saw an old-looking mansion in one of his drunken stupor and he thought it would be a great, cheap camping trip for the gang. He had been mentioning it a lot in chat messages in the past few weeks and eventually Izzy decided to go see it with him.

It was a 5 minute walk between the highway and the mansion. The woods were largely free of breathing life except for the black crows. Izzy could see the bricks of the building were worn, and chipped in a lot of places and half-chimneys were still standing on the roof. Windows were grey and full of marks and large cobwebs cover a good portion of them. The outside main gate that stood in the way between the kids and the mansion were devoid of colour and rusty. Izzy could see a rusty old chain hanging just barely around the two gate doors. It looked like they were in a ghost story which was what Tai probably wanted considering halloween is fast apprroaching.

"What do you think?" His long time friend, Tai asked. Izzy nodded and began to smile at the mansion. "It's not far from civilisation and the nearst store is right across the highway. This might be actually be better than going to camp."

"...and cheaper!" Tai added with a smirk. The other boy sniggered and then something caught his mind. The house had an english name on it. "Bodmin Manor" He read the plaque in his strong japanese accent.

Come to think of it, why is there an English brick house in Tokyo?

Curiosity filled his mind. "Shall we look inside?"

"I was going to ask." The taller boy said. He nudged at the gate which appeared to be closed with a weak padlock. He took a step back and waved for Izzy to get out of the way before leaping and kicking the gate. The grip of the old padlock snapped and the gate swung open.

Several blakc birds flew off when the rusty gate screeched open. The day was getting colder from the sun setting but it didn't deter the two boys from walking into an abandoned, old mansion. Tai playfully knocked on the front door and they both waited. "Looks like nobody's home." He joked. Then, a thud came from the inside, followed by series of faint tappping. It sounded like someone was tapping on a desk. Tai looked at Izzy's face with puzzlement, hoping to hear an explanation from him.

"Erm..someone already lives here?"

Tai didn't buy it mainly because the gate was padlocked and the mansion is surrounded by tall, spiked walls. Izzy felt the guess was bad and he offered another one.

"Birds maybe?"

Makes more sense. Tai nodded in acknowledgement and he got with what he originally thought of doing by first, picking up a few stones from the ground.

"We haven't checked the back door yet." Izzy said but Tai ignored it and threw a stone at the large window in front of him. The glass smashed and a large gap was formed but the pointy ends made it unsafe for use. With the remainder of stones in his hand, he threw them accurately at the sharp bits.

The gap to the inside of the house was now safer. Both kids climbed through the window and into a dark room. They couldn't see the other end at first but once their eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting of the setting sun, they spotted a door at that end and above it was a head of a deer. "How quaint." Tai remarked which made Izzy snigger. "What?"

"I would never dream of you describing something like that." Izzy calmy said in jest.

"Hey I ended up in the same university as you, so I'm not as stupid as you think!"

"Don't get egotistical." He dryly bantered with a smile. If he was Matt, Tai would have talked back in an instant but Izzy's tone and manner had no air of smearing or arrogance which would make it not feel right if he insulted him back. Tai simply snickered and moved on.

Both of them walked up to the door and then Tai just stood there on the spot motioning to Izzy to open it. "I got us in so it's your turn to open it. Or are you scared?"

"Tai, I won't say I don't believe in ghosts but if something weird happens, I want to know what and how."

"But are you scared?"

Izzy shook his head and he got on with opening the door. The wooden door opened slowly to reveal a spacious hallway. Beams of orange light shone through the gaps and stained glass windows. There were so many doors to choose from and not much time before the sun completely sets.

"Let's look for the kitchen." Tai suggested. Their first guess was the door behind the staircases and they were right when the opened the door to find a room full of kitchenwares and appliances. The house wasn't actually as old as they thought when they saw modern conveniences such as a refrigerator and an oven. Curious, Tai opened the fridge and it expectedly didn't work. However, Izzy noticed that the electrical socket that the fridge was plugged into was switched off. Having the urge to test it, he switched it on and within moments; clicking and gurgling sounds could be heard coming from the appliance.

"Is it.. is it working?" Tai asked, astonished. Izzy shrugged. "We won't know until we find out if it gets cold tomorrow."

Tai smirked. "So you agree that this is a good idea?"

Izzy nodded while chuckling a bit. "Yeah the fact this place isn't far off from a store makes this a plus, and if there's running water..." The boy walked up to the taps of the sink and twisted them.

Gurgling noises ran emitted from the pipes underneath and then both taps spat out splashes of liquid before it normalised into a small stream. Both boys looked at each other grinning. "Yeah, this place is a good idea."

Tai nodded to Izzy as he brought his phone out. "I'll go call Matt in case he goes ahead and booked a camping trip for us."

He went though his contacts on his phone and tapped on Matt's name. The phone beeped once and then the call ended without it trying to connect. Puzzled, he held his phone at the font and noticed that there was no signal.

"I'll be outside for a bit." He said and left Izzy by himself.

Once he turned off the taps, they began to drip endlessly. Izzy turned them on and off again. Blobs of water kept coming out, causing a splatter in the sink. Perhaps there was a build-up he cleared up when he turned them on.

Realising he may not have enough time to observe other things in this house, he moved on to the oven. It was an oven and hob combination which would suggest that the last tenants of this place wasn't too long ago. It appeared to be gas-powered judging from the tubes at the back but it doesn't seem to have an igniter button. Perhaps there was a time when people had to start the hob with a match or a lighter.

Izzy pondered about turning on the appliance but he decided against it when this task would probably be best done by a certified gas man.

Having seen enough of the kitchen, Izzy decided to explore a different room. He was hoping to find a room with books, documents, or anything that could give him a clue about the place.

At random, he picked to go to the door on his left.

As soon as he nudged the door open, he found that the room was almost completely dark. Only flecks of light seeped through the lining of the curtain. He took a step forward but then stopped when he heard the same tapping sounds coming from somewhere in the dark. The sound was more clear this time and it had a bit of a pattern. Thinking back to his guess that the sound may have come from birds, he exhaled some air and walked spryly into the dark. He was heading for the curtains to draw them open until he ran into something wooden. The object fell to the floor with a loud thud. If an animal was really there, the thud would have startled it and the tapping would have stopped but it didn't. It kept on tapping.

Izzy touched the pain on his knee. The object was sturdy and the edges scraped his knee. His skin was probably scraped but he couldn't tell in the dark. Izzy resumed his course to the curtains. He was more careful this time and he made it to the curtains without bumping into anything.

The moment he pulled them quickly apart and the room got brighter, the tapping sound suddenly stopped. The boy looked around to see what could possibly make that sound. There was an empty desk, a bookshelf, and a tumbled record player. There was nothing obvious that could make that sound and his mind gradually became more anxious than curious with this mystery.

Izzy directed his focus to the record player which was lying on its side along with its stand. It was the sturdy object he bumped into and he went up to it to set them upright again. Before he inspected the player, he pulled his trouser to see what damage it did to his leg and was relieved to see that the skin wasn't scraped. Just lines of scratch that would go away by tomorrow. He looked at the record player again. It appeared to be an old design, enclosed in a wooden box and a lever could be seen sticking out of the box a bit. He could see a record was already loaded but there was no label.

He could take it out to have a look but the bookshelf held his interest more and since it was getting dark, he decided to use the time to skim through the books instead. The books were a mixture of popular fiction and historical texts that Izzy would have been interested in reading if the sun was brighter. He was only skimming through the copyright dates to give him more of an idea on when the last occupants of this place lived here and after a few minutes, he found the latest one was dated in 1948.

Some of the historical books interested him and he decided to keep a couple of them for bedtime reading. He noticed that the room was getting a little too dark and Tai had been outside for quite some time. He decided it was time to leave but before he did, he turned his attention to the empty desk to the left of the bookshelf. Only a candle, and dust particles occupied the surface. He tapped on the surface with his finger to recreate the tapping sounds he heard earlier. It definitely resembles the sound he heard earlier. Izzy then tapped on the wooden bookshelf. Not quite the same.

To make sure of it, he tapped on the desk again and it confirmed the resemblance. He stood on his spot to ponder what else could make that sound.

Then a finger tapped on his shoulder from behind which made Izzy shriek with a "Wah!" "Looks like you were scared." A familiar voice said. Izzy turned around, relieved it was Tai.

"This place is kind of creepy actually." He admitted. "What took you so long?" He asked to Tai.

"I had to walk back to the highway to get a signal..." The thought of being completely left alone in the old mansion all this time made Izzy shiver a bit inside. ".. I called everyone and they were pretty excited about the idea."

"Then it's settled." Izzy said while pulling off a smile. Perhaps hanging with his friends would make this house seem less spooky.

"Alright, we'll meet at 12. Joe won't be with us until he finishes his exam in the afternoon."

"Isn't it his birthday tomorrow?"

Tai nodded. "Yeah I'll give him a map to this place and me and Matt will make sure drinks will be there."

"Don't forget to bring your camping supplies."

Tai laughed, remembering on the last holiday when he had only his bag and alcohol to sleep with. "Yeah it won't be like last time. It's getting late, do you wanna go?"

Izzy nodded and they both started making their way out of the room. As both of them reached the door, an old song started playing. They both turned around and was astonished to find the record spinning in the old player.

 _We'll...meet again..._

 _Don't know where... don't know when..._

 _But I know we'll meet again... some sunny day..._

 _Keep smiling through..._

 _Just like you... always do..._

 _Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away..._

 _So will you please say hello_

 _to the folks that I know_

 _Tell them... I won't be long..._

 _They'll be happy to know that as you saw me go_

 _I was singing this song._

 _We'll...meet again..._

 _Don't know where... don't know when..._

The boys' limited grasp of the English language prevented them from interpreting the lyrics but the tune was quite uplifting. It sounded like it was made during the wartime. But despite the uplifting tones of the music, both Tai and were Izzy were a little spooked by the record player operating by itself.

"Erm.. I bumped into it as I came in to this room. I probably broke some mechanism inside."

Tai nodded half convincingly as he watched Izzy pick up the needle away from the disc. Was the needle on the record this whole time? He wondered.

Once that little problem was solved, the two went out of the house via the front door and made their way to their dormitories.

Inside the bedroom of Izzy, the boy was skimming through one of the books he collected. Initially he thought it was a factual historical book until he found it was actually a book about supernatural places. The writing style felt overly dramatic; and the more he read on, the more he thought the accounts of these so-called experts were fictitious lies to generate hysteria. After having read a few chapters, he put the book away and lied down on his bed to rest for the next day.

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A/N: The song on the record player is Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I've removed all reference of Digimon in the first chapter. This is an AU universe where Digimon doesn't exist. :P

Originally I was trying to finish this whole fic before Halloween but that didn't happen. It will probably be a monthly thing now.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

11 of the kids met up in Tokyo and travelled together to the mansion. They brought sleeping bags, toothbrushes, food, drinks, and lots of cleaning equipment. Mimi and Sora had a brilliant idea of cleaning up the place and making it look less scary.

"I'm sure whatever ghosts in there would appreciate the tidying up." Sora said enthusiastically.

"Uh-huh- and if any one of them starts to play tricks on us, they'll feel the wrath of this baby." Mimi threatened with her cute, little portable vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner was a limited edition Hello Kitty design with the cat serving as a nozzle.

The amount of cleaning equipment the kids held made them look like professional cleaning crews. There will surely be lots of noise which would surely make the house less creepy for Izzy.

The front door was left opened yesterday so they didn't have to climb through the window. Izzy had thought about covering up the gap that Tai made yesterday. When he turned his head to observe the window, his anxiety grew again.

Something didn't look quite right. He walked up to the broken window to look at it closer. He was sure it looked different from yesterday.

"Hey Izzy, we can go through the door." Said Tai who was still outside while the others had entered through the door.

"Can you come here for a bit?"

Tai quietly went up to Izzy. "What is it?"

"Look." Izzy pointed to the window gap that his friend made yesterday. Tai looked at it and didn't find anything strange about it.

"What?"

Izzy stayed silent, not giving any clues. He purposely withheld his thoughts so Tai could look at it again without much bias. His silence prompted Tai to look at it again still he couldn't find anything abnormal.

"What is it? Tell me?"

"Do you think the gap looks a bit different form yesterday? Maybe smaller?"

Tai observed it again... "No..."

The answer didn't make Izzy feel any more comfortable.

"I think you're worrying too much." Said Tai, ruffling the smaller boy's hair. "C'mon let's go inside." Perhaps Tai was right. He had read that anxiety could propagate itself and perhaps he was looking for things to worry. He followed Tai to the door.

Inside the hallway, the kids chatted to each other and making comments about the house. "I think we hit the jackpot." Said Matt.

"There's water and electricity too." Tai added with a smirk. "Let's check the refrigerator."

Everyone followed Tai to the kitchen. He was the first to reach the appliance so he was the one who opened it. When he pulled the fridge door open, he chuckled at the cool air gently hitting his face.

"Ah sweet." Matt remarked as he shoved his cans of drinks into the old fridge. The others followed suit with their food. Mimi's contribution caught everyone's attention when she brought out a white box about the size of her head to put into the fridge. Everyone in the room could pick up the lovely strawberry scent.

"Ooh what is it?" Yolei asked.

"It's a cake for Joe." Mimi answered with a wink.

"Can I see it?"

"Yeah sure." Mimi opened the box with one hand to reveal a creamy, round cake with cherries and strawberries laid neatly round the edges. The words _"Happy Bi_ _r_ _thday Joe!"_ was written on it followed by _"Mimi & Co xx" _at the bottom right.

"Ooh that looks lovely. Can I have a bit?"

Mimi closed the box away and frowned. "Nope. Not until Joe is here."

She placed the box into the fridge and turned around with a more intimidating look. "Now don't you all dare put anything on top of it." Everyone gulped and nodded.

Mimi's face suddenly changed to a warm one. "C'mon Tai, give us a tour."

Tai swallowed a spit. "Erm.. yeah but we only saw three rooms yesterday so we don't really know about this place more than you do..."

"Hey does the cooker work?" Matt interrupted. He was about to turn one of the knobs but was stopped by a grasp on the arm. The hand on his arm belonged to Izzy.

"No I didn't test it because… erm.. I don't think we should touch it." Izzy gripped on the arm tighter.

"Why not?"

"Erm.." Izzy was careful to word his answer. He knew how bold Matt could be and although he could be overreacting, he had decided that there would be no harm in being overly safe.

"..It could be dangerous playing with the gas."

Matt snickered at the comment. "What if I turn it on just slightly?" It wasn't a question as Matt was about to twist one of the knobs but his arm was stopped again but this time, by his girlfriend.

"I think we should do what Izzy say." Sora pleaded.

While Matt would prefer to stick to his convictions, he could not resist the words of someone he loved. He had tried arguing with her before but most of the time, she gets her way. "Alright then." He yielded for now. He was then rewarded by a hug from his girlfriend.

"The water works." Tai said.

"Huh! Oh sorry." Matt broke the hug.

"Nah I was just saying."

"Erm..shall we check out the other rooms?" TK asked, trying to prevent a possible awkward situation from forming. The others nodded with the same intention.

When the children walked out, Izzy wanted to check out the books again and he suggested going to that 'music room' again. Matt had been observing where the gas pipes lead to from the kitchen which prompted him to suggest exploring the basement.

"For the last time, we're not going to play with the gas." Sora scolded.

"Okay but still, we're gonna check the basement anyway."

"Let's just do what Izzy says." She said before storming off to the room that Izzy pointed to earlier.

Everyone looked at Matt in bafflement.

"What?"

They all exchanged glances at one another. "I know she's been like that to me lately and I don't mind owning up to my faults but she doesn't tell me anything." Matt glanced at Tai, Mimi, and Kari for some possible explanation.

They all shrugged. "Maybe you should ask her." Tai suggested with good intentions but Matt was visibly irritated by it. "I've asked her so many times lately and she doesn't say anything. Perhaps maybe the girls know."

All the females there shook their head. "Sorry, this is new to me." Yolei said. "Yeah same." Mimi nodded.

Kari nervously stayed silent. She had been spending a lot of time with TK lately and she hadn't thought about Sora much.

There was only one person who could give him an answer and it was his business to find out.

"C'mon let's go." Tai said.

They all made their way to the music room. Matt was the first to come in and spotted Sora standing in front of the record player with her arms crossed. She seemed to staring intensely at it.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked.

No answer was given. She just kept on staring at the old object. Matt turned his view to the record to see what was so special about it.

"I'm sorry for.. whatever I did. I never meant to hurt you." He said.

The record player was just an old music player with an unlabelled record on it. There was nothing special about it. She still kept on staring at it like she was in a trance and at times like this, Matt would wave in front of her eyes and say "Hello, earth to Sora." but perhaps this time, it would be best to be more mature.

He wrapped his arm around the girl.

"C'mon you can't be like this all day. Especially when it's one of our comrade's birthday." He said softly to Sora's ear.

She continued her silence, still gazing at the object.

"Sora?.."

"Let's go upstairs!" She suddenly suggested which caught the blond off guard. "Err.. yeah.."

Sora sprightly walked past everyone and out of the room. Everyone looked at each other and followed the girl. Murmurs and whispers were exchanged behind the girl as they were walking up the stairs. The way she walked, it was like she knew where to go. She didn't display any curiosity to her surroundings and she headed for one of the doors without any hesitation.

Straight away she entered through a door without waiting for the others behind her to catch up. When Matt and the others reached the room they saw Sora staring back at them whilst sitting on a double bed cross-legged.

Matt went to sit beside the girl. Some of the others were more distracted by two of the ugliest portraits they had ever seen. Mimi, Yolei, and Davis stood beside Sora to talk with her while the others went round the bed to take a closer look at the portraits.

One of them was at the opposite end of the bed and the other was next to the window frame opposite to the door. TK and Kari were observing the female one near the window while Tai and Izzy were staring at the male portrait.

"Who do you think this is?" Tai asked to Izzy. Unbeknownst to him, Izzy was gradually entranced in his own anxiety. He had heard the question, but each passing second staring at the odd features of the face made him more paralyzed in fear.

"Hey Izzy? Are you okay?"

Izzy's hands were trembling more visibly. He didn't why or how. The beating of his heart was getting more painful; his forehead sweating; and no matter how fast he breathed, it didn't feel adequate enough.

"Izzy?" Tai shook him firmly which drew the attention of the others on or near the bed.

His anxiety gradually dissipated and he could breathe more easily now. "Thanks.." He inhaled and exhaled deeply "I don't know what got into me." His gaze was still at the portrait but it didn't have as much effect as before.

Suddenly, Kari started crying in front of the other portrait. This prompted the boy next to her to wrap his arm around her back. "What's wrong?" TK asked.

Tai immediately let go of Izzy and went up to his sister. He asked the same question but Kari didn't answer.

Izzy thought she might have felt something similar as he did. He turned back to the portrait of the female again, looking for something that might trigger the immense anxiety he felt earlier.

Now with calmer eyes, he thought the face didn't look much more horrific than some of the extraordinary people he'd seen in documentaries. Diluted brown pupils; flat, uneven nose; big, colourless lips; and extremely white, wrinkled skin.

Judging from the outline of the face, she was probably white Caucasian. Her hair was ginger but more much paler than Sora's. Her hairstyle was a bit reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth but much less hair. The front half was completely bald while the back half had patches of long hair but it looked like those would fall off eventually. She was probably an ill person.

For a moment, Izzy thought there was nothing that could have made him so anxious and he was probably overreacting. But gradually after some time staring at the face, his heart was beginning to beat loud enough to hear, and his breathing was getting more difficult.

Voices from the corner where Tai, Kari and TK were standing were getting inaudible. Somehow he remembered he could look away and he quickly tilted his head down with his palms enclosing his eyes.

The people near the bed were getting concerned. "Are you alright Izzy?" Yolei asked this time.

He turned around, gradually calming himself down. "Yeah.. I'm sorry."

Yolei began to look more observantly at the portrait. She concluded the woman was ugly as hell but it wasn't as frightening as today's special effects make up in films. She didn't think Izzy would be the type to be afraid of odd-looking things. In fact, he would have loved to study it. It was strange.

"I've had enough of this room." Yolei said. The others nodded.

Matt wanted to get out too but then just realised that Sora had been laying down on the bed. Her face was half-sleepy and she was staring at the ceiling like being deep in thought. It was as if she was indifferent to the strange behaviour of Izzy and Kari.

"Aren't you two coming?" Asked Tai who was the only person other than the two still in the room at the moment. "I'm sleepy." Sora gently replied. Matt thought this could be the perfect time to talk to her and he shook his head in response. "I'll stay here with her. I'll catch you up later."

Tai returned with a smirk. His face was actually concealing the increasing worrying thoughts in his mind. Tai didn't brush off the strange behaviour of three of his friends and the others probably didn't too but he couldn't risk ruining this potential good day by succumbing to his own feelings. It was probably coincidence that a few strange things had been going on in this admittedly spooky house. There were still too few evidences to be on guard and suppressing his feelings would be best. As he slowly closed the door shut and left the two alone, he hoped there will be no more strange behaviours from now on. There will be a party later on and it would be a shame if that spirit gets dampened.

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A/N: I always get the feeling that this bit don't flow or that bit gets too fast. Criticisms are always welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

**Replies:**

 **soojinah - It's not much but I tried to fit Mimi in more than I was willing to for you. :)**

 **pencilanderaser - Thanks for the kind comments and attention you've been giving me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

The gang had explored all the rooms upstairs. There were 5 bedrooms and a couple of study rooms on that floor. After the rooms were seen, they talked about sleeping arrangements as they went down the stairs.

"Since there is 12 of us, we can sleep in 3 pairs and 2 threes."

"I take Kari!" Davis declared.

"No you won't! I'll take Kari. You can take Ken!" Yolei yelled.

"I was just kidding. I wouldn't mind taking the couch… if there is one...hey wouldn't it be great if there's a TV here?!"

"No there isn't! How could there be a TV here?" Yolei yelled louder which made the others jerked away from her.

Izzy felt need to chime in despite being nervous of her outburst. He had considered staying silent but he couldn't hold back his thoughts that has a sound explanation. "The last tenants weren't too long ago so there may be one." He said, hoping it wouldn't cause another outburst.

"See told ya."

"Shut up! Okay here's the plan. I'll go with Kari, and Mimi, while Tai, Izzy and TK go in one room and Ken, Cody can share together which leaves a room for the birthday boy, Joe."

"Hey what about me?"

"Didn't you say you'll sleep on the couch?"

"I was just kidding."

"You're sleeping on the couch!" Her strict voice made him quiet.

"I'll probably reading the library of books here so I probably won't sleep much. You can take my spot." Izzy offered to Davis.

"Nah! I don't want TK's snoring to wake me up."

"Okay then." TK said while pulling off a slight smile. He had always been able to act non-aggressively to Davis' teasings no matter how mean-spirited it was. Quite often, TK's 'good guy' act would get the better of Davis, and then his teasings would escalate into insults and then Kari (or Yolei) would come in to the aid of the blond.

"One of these days... you're gonna crack... and then you're gonna... kill everyone." Davis spoke in a dramatic manner like a mad, movie villain.

"Really?" TK replied, sounding unimpressed.

A loud thunder strike flashed through the house.

"Uh-huh." Davis nodded.

Yolei decided to interrupt the stupidity. "So is everyone okay with the sleeping arrangements?"

"Why do we need sleeping arrangements when we'll probably drop dead to the floor like all of the other times?" Cody asked to Yolei with his usual nonchalant tone.

"Just in case really. I don't intend on drinking myself to death." She replied.

"Yeah I wanna go to sleep whilst feeling clean. These carpets are incredibly dusty." Mimi chimed in.

Unexpectedly Kari turned around when she made it to the end of the stairs. "Erm.. is it okay if I go with Tai and TK?"

"What!?" Davis gasped.

"Huh? Erm.." Yolei was also surprised. She looked towards Tai.

He shrugged. "As long as I'm in between you and TK I don't mind."

Ylei was still a little shocked. "Erm… okay I'll take Ken then."

Now Ken was surprised. "Are you serious?" The thought of being surrounded by two girls made him blush and agitated.

"Hold on a minute!" Davis interrupted. "You can't sleep with TK. Just look at him."

Yolei took a glance at the boy. "What's wrong with him?" She spoke Kari's mind.

"Just look at the way he smiles all the time. He's deranged. He might... " Davis turned to Kari and started speaking dramatically like before. "...do something to you in bed."

A clash of thunder broke through when Davis said the last line. It made Kari jump.

"Only you would think of something like that." Tai's scorn was followed by a good punch to the younger boy's backside.

"Owww!"

"Now cut it out! Let's just move on." Tai ordered.

"Geez everybody's so uptight today." Davis murmured whilst trying to rub his backside.

Having had enough of hearing him, Tai decided not to respond to his remark and lead the group to one of the doors he didn't go through with Izzy yesterday.

It was a half-closed of the fading wallpaper could be seen from the hallway. He nudged it open and to his surprise, a TV was there.

"Sweet! I take the coach!" Davis launched himself into it. Yolei's expression couldn't be more mad. "Don't forget you have to do your part to clean up this place!"

"Yeah yeah I'll do it after I get my nap." He waved his hand as if not to disturb him.

Yolei's eyebrow twitched. He probably wouldn't be good help in cleaning anyway. She had been to his bedroom once before and it worse than the boy's locker room. Dirty socks on the floor, desk, and bed. Piles of old magazines in those places too And loads of crumbs of all sorts of snacks.

"Fine." Yolei said. "But if you sleep too much I'll give you a permanent headache."

Before Davis was about to retort, Tai interrupted. "So does this mean you won't be exploring with us." Tai asked. The younger boy nodded while having his eyes closed. He looked comfortable when he turned to his side.

"Such a lazy boy." Yolei muttered to herself.

"I heard that! And can someone turn the TV on?"

Yolei's glasses nearly broke. She cold only manage to stay calm for a second before her urge to lash out became uncontrollable.. "Why don't you turn it on?!" She yelled.

Tai unintentionally came to the rescue. "I was about to go to see if it would work."

"Thanks buddy." Then Davis muttered something quietly which Yolei didn't like. As the two kept on fighting Tai went up to the appliance.

The TV had a small, square screen. Actually the screen wasn't completely square but sort of rounded. It had two knobs at either side and one switch.

Tai pushed on the only switch at the front. The TV clicked a few times and sounded like it was warming up.

Suddenly loud, swishing white noise replaced all the sounds in the room. They all jumped from the sudden loudness of the unpleasant sound.

Immediately, Tai twisted one of the knobs to turn the volume down. Thank god he picked the right one. Once the white noise died down, some faint ringing could be heard in his ears but that soon faded away.

He then turned the other knob in hopes of finding a channel. He twisted it back and forth before turning it to one direction until it reaches the end. The picture was no clearer than the fuzziness of white noise and sounds of faint talking among the white noise could be heard but the talking soon faded away. Izzy was standing closely behind Tai, listening to the bits of talking fading in and out.

Once Tai reached the end of the dial, he twisted it back to the other end. Again, there was no picture but bits and pieces of talking were fading in and out. One thing that Izzy noticed was that all the small bits of dialogue coming through didn't sound Japanese.

"Why build a house here when you can't pick up anything?" Tai remarked to himself. Cody spotted a radio on the shelf and went up to it. "Perhaps the radio will work." The youngest boy of the group observed the device for a switch. Once he spotted one, he flicked it on and then a series of thunder suddenly came booming outside. It was so loud it made Kari, who was standing nearest to the window jump. Her reflex made TK jump too.

Like the TV, only white noise were emitted. Cody twisted one of the knobs like Tai did with the TV, searching for a channel. Bits and pieces of talking were fading in and out. In fact, it almost sounded exactly the same as the TV. Once reaching one end, he twisted it to the other end. He would have twisted the knob to its finish but was then interrupted by a sleepy Davis.

"Ah shut it off!" Davis' backside was met by a fist. "Ow!"

"Who do you think you are? Some sort of royal?" Yolei scolded.

"No! There was nothing but noise coming through those things so I told you to shut it off."

"You're not the boss around here!"

"I was just asking geez. You don't have to be so angry all the time."

"I have every right to be angry. God! You're so annoying. Why don't you do us a favour and die in your sleep right here." Another flash of thunder boomed, causing temporary silence in the room. The splattering of rain gradually followed outside.

"That was a bit harsh." Mimi broke that bit of silence.

"Yeah.. you're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I say."

"Apology accepted." He replied. The way he accepted it. It was like it all had been Yolei's fault all this time. Her eyebrow twitched in growing anger but instead of responding to him, she opted to get out of the room.

"C'mon let's go see the other rooms."

Everyone agreed with her and went out of the room with her. Only Tai and Davis was still in the room. "So we'll leave you here?" He wanted to be sure.

"Yeah. Catch ya later."

"Okay sleep tight." Tai left the room.

They all stood in the hallway. Kari had her hands tucked under the armpits to keep them warm. It was getting chilly and the wind from the outside could be heard. "I hope Joe can find his way down here. It's getting dark and chilly." Mimi remarked.

"Yeah. I saw a garden from the kitchen earlier but I guess we can leave that til tomorrow." Tai said.

TK nodded. "I guess that leaves.. the basement."

"You said that like there's a ghost." Tai joked. He got a few people chuckling politely. "C'mon let's go."

The door to the basement was next to the door to the kitchen. Tai twisted the knob and nudged it open. The door creaked open, revealing a staircase down to a pitch-black room.

The darkness there brought an idea to Mimi. "I wonder if the lights work here." They looked towards Izzy and Tai who didn't have an answer.

"It's worth a try. And the lights here might light up the staircase." Izzy answered.

The kids agreed and looked around for any switches in the hallway until TK spotted a few at the wall near the front door. He went up to it and after a bit of reluctance, he flicked all of them at once.

Only the hallway lit up with a dim yellow. Nowhere else was lit up. Curious, he flicked the switches off one by one to see which one corresponded to the lights in the hallway. None of the lights turned off.

"That's strange."

He flicked all the switches back on at once and then off again. The hallway lights didn't even flicker.

"What's wrong? Mimi asked.

TK withheld his answer until he walked back to the others. "I turned it on but I can't turn it off again. The switches must be broken. How's the lighting down there?"

"We can only see about four and a half steps. It's still pitch-black." Izzy answered.

"Where are you going?" Mimi asked Tai who was walking up the stairs.

"I'm going to see if Matt would like to go down there."

And without dialogue, everyone agreed to it. They decidedly stood around, waiting for Tai and maybe Matt and Sora to come back. The hallway was bereft of conversation and the only sounds that could be heard were the splattering of raindrops with the occasional thundering outside. As the silence went on and on, Mimi felt the need to break it.

"I dare one of ya to go down there."

Everyone stayed silent and avoided eye contact with her. "Hey TK. Why don't you go in?"

He was caught surprised. "Er.. I'd rather not..." He smiled warmly to Mimi whilst rubbing the back of his head.

"C'mon! Show Kari how brave you are."

"He doesn't need to show me anything." Kari immediately responded. Her face was keeping no secret of her anxiety.

"What's the matter with you? Why look so glum?" Mimi asked, concerned.

As usual, Kari gave no answer. She still hadn't revealed why she was crying in the bedroom. But she couldn't hold it in at that point. "TK can we talk privately?" She quietly asked while shaking her head towards the lounge. He nodded and they both started walking to that room.

"I hope she finally spills it." Mimi said brightly. She turned her attention to the others. "Izzy why don't you go down there?"

He smiled back. "I'd rather we go together." He replied.

"Why? What's going to be down there?" She teased.

"Well... you never know." He half-joked. "I wonder what's taking Tai so long?"

"Oh my god!"

That was the sound of Kari's voice. All the children ran into the lounge to see what was up.

"What's wrong?" Yolei asked.

Kari was kneeling beside a sleeping Davis in tears. "He's.. he's not breathing.. and..and.."

"He doesn't have a pulse." TK finished for her.

"What!? Let me see!" Yolei placed her ear on the boy's chest. TK was right. He didn't have a pulse and there was no movement from his chest either.

"No.." Kari touched his face with her hand and then withdrew it in shock. "He's… he's cold."

Yolei placed her hand on his face. "Oh my god it's like he had died hours ago." Izzy didn't believe it. Judging from the tone of his skin, if he really was dead, he would have died a few moments ago. Hopefully the three kids had been wrong and he was in some sort of deep sleep. He slipped through the gang to place his touch on Davis' face. She was probably right. It didn't seem like Davis had died moments ago. Just to be sure, he checked his pulse on his chest and arms and made the same conclusion as the others. He even placed his hand below the nose to feel some sort of breathing but none was felt.

"Does anyone know CPR?" Yolei shouted. Everyone shook heir heads. "I think Joe might but to be honest, he seems long dead." Izzy answered.

"What do you know about death?" She retorted.

Not very much he had to admit. It was worth a try. Yolei climbed onto the boy and started pushing his chest. "Erm.. Yolei? Do you know what you're doing?" Mimi asked.

"No but I got to do something."

After several pushes, she lowered her head down with some hesitation before meeting her lips with his. She breathed out into the mouth and then raised her head to resume the pushes. That's what they do in films.

The other teenagers stood there, watching her fruitlessly trying to revive the dead boy. "Maybe the others upstairs know how to do this properly." TK said. As he was making his way out of the lounge, a person suddenly appeared in front of the doorway. It took him by surprise before realising it was Tai.

"Oh! Tai you're here, Davis is not breathing."

"We're getting outta here!" The unspoken leader of the group ordered. "Everyone! don't bother with your stuff, let's go."

"But.. Davis is.." TK was cut off.

"He can't be saved. We're moving!"

Tai immediately moved away from the doorway and headed for the room opposite. The suddenness of Tai's actions left TK puzzled. He then saw Matt walking down the stairs with a sleeping Sora in his hands. Actually, with what happened to Davis, she may not be sleeping at all. "No! Sora!" TK cried.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Wanna hear a confession? I've spent most of my free time playing games instead of doing this. :P**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Ken had been speaking a lot to his girlfriend, Yolei who had been sobbing in her palms for the past 10 or so minutes. The boy had barely spoke all the time they were in the mansion but now was the time for dialogue. He never hesitated to counsel her.

"Thanks Ken. I know Matt have it worse, but I can't stop crying."

Ken kept the interval of his patting to her backside. "Who's to say that he deserves to be more sad than you? Davis is your friend which is just as important."

She felt her tears retreating slightly. "Thanks again for being so sweet. But I still can't shake the feeling that I shouldn't be so openly sad when Matt have lost his love."

Without much apparent thought, Ken seemed to have an answer for that.

"Who's to say that your feelings aren't worthy enough? Just the fact that you feel makes you alive and worthwhile."

The sobbing increased. Not only Ken was intelligent, he was emotionally intelligent too. He was so cute, she couldn't help but cry harder.

Bewildered, Ken stayed silent and continued comforting her with his palm and body heat.

They ended up being the last ones to leave the lounge room.

Finally all the members of the gang gathered in the hallway. Tai counted the heads to see if everyone was really there. "One, two, three, four…" He whispered to himself before counting the rest of them silently in his head. Including the two lifeless bodies, there was 11 in the room which was everyone since Joe hadn't met up with them yet. And hopefully, he never will.

"Right, now that everyone's here. I got some bad news to announce." Tai said. The others except Matt made eye contact with each other, wondering what the bad news could be. Tai gave Kari a glance before revealing the news.

"I'm afraid we're trapped here." He announced.

The others now looked at each other in confusion. "What do you mean?" His sister enquired.

"The doors can't be opened." He answered. "What?.. Why?" She asked.

"…There's a strange barrier blocking the door and the same goes with the windows as well."

"Believe me! Do not touch the windows!" Matt added. He was massaging both of his temples to alleviate the headache. Obviously something had happened to Matt while TK was trying to get the others out of the living room. Being Matt's brother, TK had to know.

"What happened?" TK asked, feeling no need to elaborate.

"I'm fine." Was the answer.

TK narrowed his eyebrows which caused his older brother to avoid eye contact with him. All TK needed to give was his silence.

"I had an accident…"

TK and the others stayed silent, awaiting for more explanation.

"You now that moose head above the door in that room." Matt's head faced towards the same room Tai and Izzy came in through on the day before. And because only those two came into the house through that room, everyone except those two shook their heads.

"Moose head?" TK questioned.

Matt pointed towards the head sitting on a chair which can be seen through the open door.

"It fell on my head."

"How?" Mimi wanted to know more. "It just fell?" TK asked as well.

"No… it's the windows…" Matt's breathing became tougher and he was visibly unbalanced. He had to sit down on the staircase.

Tai continued for him. "He tried smashing the windows but it…" Tai stopped, not knowing how to explain it. He didn't experience it but whatever made Matt frightened, it must had been horrifying.

The interval of Matt's breathing increased further. If the children hadn't experienced some freak events in the past few minutes or hour, they would have thought Matt's expression and heavy breathing was the result of feeling dazed. Perhaps another weird incident occurred.

"It's mainly why you should stay away from the windows. Don't even touch it with an object!" Matt resumed his explanation.

"What happened?" Mimi enquired.

He took a deep breath and straightened his posture in an attempt to get himself more balanced.

"Firstly, Tai said he broke a hole through a window yesterday to get in. Apparently that hole seemed to have fixed itself..."

Izzy's eyes widened in astonishment and his earlier anxiety, swiftly returning to his body.

Matt continued.

"...Tai touched it first and felt a jolt of electricity as well as some faint screaming. I touched it too and I felt and heard the same thing. Next, I punched it and then I heard the same thing but about a hundred times way worse! It knocked me a few feet back. Furious, I grabbed a chair and whacked it at the… glass…"

The older teenager couldn't finish his sentence. His tone began to get softer.

"... and then I heard it. It was a hundred woman screaming the same thing at me. And not only that, the rebound was much stronger that time and only the door kept me from falling backwards until that freakin' moose dropped on my head."

Out of incliniation, Mimi took a step to rub the head of Matt but he brushed it off with his hand.

"I'm fine now. There's no need to worry."

He stood up from the stairway and began to walk down. "C'mon let's find another way out." Just before his foot landed on the last step, his body collapsed down with his forehead making contact with the floor with a thump!

"Matt!" A few people shouted in unison.

Mimi and Tai were the first to put their hand on him. To both of their relief, he was still breathing and his skin was still warm.

"That bump must have taken a lot out of him!" Tai commented.

Several children carried Matt back to the lounge room where Davis was lying there. They carefully removed the younger boy from the sofa and placed Matt on the same spot while Davis was placed next to a wall adjacent to the sofa.

"So what do we do now?" Mimi asked.

Tai already had an idea in his mind. "A few of us will check out the back while the rest of you watch over Matt. Who's with me?"

Izzy and Mimi opted to go with him. Ken also wanted to but the sight of his sombre girlfriend prevented him from answering.

"Makes sure no one is alone. If anybody has to go to the bathroom for example, make sure another is following them. In fact, it would be best to have at least two people inside the bathroom too."

All the people in the room nodded. Not one of them opposed to the idea.

Without much unnecessary dialogue, three people made their way out of the lounge room straight away.

The only way to the back garden was through the kitchen. The room was now almost pitch black but sometimes temporarily illuminated by the lightning. Guessing where the light switch may be, Tai tapped around the wall on his left until he felt a nub.

He flicked it which caused the room to blink in and out of illumination at random intervals. Within moments, the kitchen was illuminated with an unappetizing yellow. The dim colour of the lighting made him feel drowsy rather than awake and despite the light now present, the outside still couldn't be seen through the windows.

The windows to the back garden was completely black and little raindrops could be seen hitting the glass and sliding down.

It was rather strange that the outside couldn't be seen at all through the windows. It didn't seem like it conformed to normal physics. But what does he know about the physics of the world?

With some reluctance, Tai slowly went up to the back door with two of his friends closely behind him.

The blackness displayed by the glass of the door didn't provide any encouragement at all. He didn't have any other choice really. The alternative was to not open the door and stay around the house waiting for something to happen. That wouldn't be his style.

He paused his thinking for a moment long enough for himself to quickly turn the handle and pull open the door. He did it so quick, his backside bumped into his two friends as he pulled the door.

There was nothing to fear as the outside appeared to be a normal garden. He could see from the dim kitchen lighting coming out of the doorway that the grass was completely wet and it was still pouring. There were pools of puddle covering the gravel in front of Tai. Unfazed, Tai placed a foot down onto a puddle of water.

The two friends behind who were a bit less accustomed to nature were reluctant for a moment before following him.

It was a simple garden where the ground was divided in grass and gravel. From what Tai could only see, the gravel that he was standing on covered only about one-tenth of the garden. He could just about make out the end of the garden from the flashes of lightning that boomed even louder now that there was no roof and walls to alleviate the sound.

He tested the soggy grass with one of his foot and decided that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to go in there. It felt so soft and mushy, it may as well be quicksand.

The downpour discouraged Tai and his group to venture out into the grass and if he could make out every corner of the garden, then perhaps there would be no need to go there.

However a tiny object sticking out of the mud at the far end caught his eye. It looked almost like a human finger. This was something he can't ignore. Even if it was the trap of a supernatural being, he still wouldn't ignore it. There would still be a chance that someone alive was drowning in the sea of mud.

Tai took a step into the grass area. It indeed felt like quicksand as his foot was slowly getting absorbed into the ground. It was so soft it was a wonder how the various objects around such as a ball, a chair, or a table could still be above ground level.

It was a bit of a struggle to reach to the finger and every step they took, they found the mud ankle deep.

Finally when they managed to trudge through the mushy ground as well as the thunderstorm, they reached to the finger. It appeared to be an index finger belonged to a young person beneath the the mud.

Without much thought, Tai began to dug the ground with his hands.

Mimi and Izzy who were more reluctant to get dirty, gazed around the garden for some digging tools.

As if their request was granted, they both spotted two shovels lying against a tree at the same time. There was a strange feeling that the shovels weren't there when they came out but both of them didn't have the time to dwell on it when there was possibly a person to save.

Without much communication except for a few nods here and there, both Izzy and Mimi joined up with Tai. They were careful not to accidentally dig into a possible human body shortly they found some dark hair appearing and then when a part of the face could be seen, the more desperate they were to dig him out of it.

It didn't take them long until the face was more exposed to a recognisable form. They could now tell despite from all the rain and wind in the eyes that Joe was unconscious in the ground there.

"I'll go get the others." Mimi shouted through the raging wind and rain. She ran back to the house without waiting for any acknowledgement. There was no need for a response as they all silently agreed with her.

Both Izzy and Tai managed to dig deep enough to Joe's chest level by the time Mimi and the others joined them. It was such a difficult task as the dampy mud kept sliding back to the body.

There were a few people missing in the group. Namely, TK, Kari, and Matt. They hadn't forgotten Tai's order of not leaving anyone alone which includes the unconscious Matt who was being supervised by the two younger members of the gang.

Tai was too focussed in the digging to care about TK and Kari being missing from group. And when Joe was finally dug out, he had already worked out why those two stayed in the house.

Izzy immediately checked the pulse of the boy lying unconscious in the ground and as expected, he was already dead.


End file.
